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Rebecca McCray, a writer and Fulbright fellow studying in Ljubljana, sheds light in a recent article about why she believes that Slovenia has the United States beat on how they sell raw milk – especially when it comes to utilizing vending machines to sell off the farm and technology to monitor the quality of their product.

McCray profiles two Slovenian farmers, a husband and wife duo, who run a small, family-owned dairy farm outside the country’s capital and sell raw milk to their community through vending machines. They change the milk in their vending machine daily, and he receives frequent text messages to his phone that alert him if the machine stops working or if the milk’s temperature rises above the temperature that has been designated as safe by the Slovenian Administration for Food Safety. “If this happens,” McCray writes, “the machine automatically stops vending, preventing the sales of unsafe milk.”

Raw milk vending machines is a growing business in Slovenia and its neighboring countries, and McCray can personally attest to the convenience and ease of which they provide fresh, local milk 24 hours per day. McCray first encountered a raw milk vending machine in Ljubljana’s outdoor central market and witnessed others bringing their own reusable bottles to fill with fresh milk from the machine. Since then, she has used these “mlekomats” to purchase the milk that she drinks.

Her portrayal of the system as a consumer and the glimpse she offers into how the farmers utilize technology to aid sales show that there is a real opportunity in the US and other countries to safely sell raw milk to those who want it.